'Cause of death was a full life' for lawyer, ex-lawmaker 'Pappy' Triche

Risley "Pappy" Triche, a former state lawmaker and self-described country lawyer from south Louisiana's Napoleonville, has died at age 84. Triche's daughter, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo of New Orleans, told The Advocate that Triche had been ill for several years after a stroke and died at home Tuesday.

The Associated PressFormer Louisiana Rep. Risley 'Pappy' Triche

Stephen Kees, director of Landry's Funeral Home in Napoleonville, said Triche died of natural causes.

"As the family put it, cause of death was a full life," Kees said.

Landry's Funeral Home told The Associated Press that Triche's funeral was set for 11 a.m. Thursday at Assumption Catholic Church in Plattenville. Landry's was the site of visitation Wednesday night and a visitation was also set for Thursday at the church from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Triche was mayor of Napoleonville before he was elected to the first of four state House terms in 1956, according to the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.

A former segregationist, he renounced that stance in an emotional 1972 speech as he led efforts to repeal Jim Crow laws.

As an attorney, his high-profile clients included Gus Mijalis, a businessman and friend of former Gov. Edwin Edwards who was acquitted with Edwards in a 1986 federal corruption trial. Another was the late former state Education Superintendent Tom Clausen, acquitted in a state payroll fraud case in 1987.

Triche, short and portly, could be disarming and soft-spoken, as when introducing himself to jurors as a country lawyer from the small town of Napoleonville.

He could also be emotional and fiery. He had tears in his eyes when he renounced segregation on the House floor in 1972.

And, in 2004, he returned to the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to warn lawmakers away from passing a ban on same-sex marriage, revealing that his son, found beaten to death in his Baton Rouge apartment in 1980, had been murdered because he was gay.

"You will create division. You will create hatred. You will create violence over this issue," Triche said.

Triche stayed active in Louisiana politics, donating money and giving advice to top Democratic candidates across the state.

Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, a fellow Democrat from Napoleonville, said he visited with Triche last week and found him to be in good spirits.

"He was well-liked and very witty," Melancon said. "They say he used to look at a judge and jury at the beginning of a trial and claim to be an old country lawyer. But he was smart, an unbelievable attorney, actually."